For a Romeo and Juliet Moment
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: If you're dating a woman with kids, it's generally a good idea to clue the kids in. Especially if they've saved the world and probably could take a full grown man on, unlike most kids their age.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Challenges:

Prompt in Steps Challenge, 5.05 - serenade  
Diversity Writing Challenge, g6 - write a threeshot  
The 28 Days of Love Challenge, day 2 - Tomoko/OC (with the OC narrating, and I don't know how that happened...)  
New Year's Mini Advent (2016), write a fic between 3-5k

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 **For a Romeo and Juliet Moment**  
 _Chapter 1_

If you're dating a woman with kids, it's generally a good idea to clue the kids in. How much you clue them in depends on their age and life experiences, of course. You wouldn't bother telling much to a baby, except get familiar with them so they gurgle instead and don't scream their cute little lungs out when they see you. If they're about three or four, you say you're a friend of their mother or something like that until you're closer to the "I'll be your new daddy" part of things and things don't get too complicated. But when the kids are eleven, they're at the point where they might not want a new daddy in the least and that's another thing that needs to be taken into account.

But if you date their mother and it becomes a long-term thing, you'll have to address that little concern sooner or later. Maybe you can get into the house a few times before you're caught. Maybe that's not even worth the risk because the mother's going to take their kid's side in all this, aren't they? And you also have to squeeze in some bonding time with the kid to show you're not inamiable to having kids sprung on you before even the marriage, that you don't care they're some other guy's kids and you'll treat them well and, by that age, it's a concern of the kids as much as it is of the parents because no-one ever talks about the good step-parents unless you happen to know one personally...or your bestie does, maybe. If you're close enough to talk about personal stuff like that. If you want to talk about stuff like that on your lunch break, I guess.

But yeah. If the kids catch you kissing their mother, or worse… I guess that's one of the worst nightmares of a guy dating a woman with kids. Or a guy with kids. Or even when you get married, does that awkward fear ever go away because it's more acceptable now? Maybe i'll find out later. Maybe now. marriage isn't quite on the table yet, but before that…

The kids catching you kissing their mother isn't the worst situation to be caught in. Funnily enough, I wound up caught doing almost nothing at all.

Well, not almost nothing. I was just trying to be romantic. Like leaving flowers and a note on the doorstep and hiding to see her reaction because I still wasn't too sure how the first date had gone and I wanted to see if she'd be amiable for another one… but I'm a bit of a coward.

Of course, at this point, I hadn't thought too much about the son. It was one date, after all. It might never become relevant.

Except he'd stopped by the library after school and was behind me when I turned around.

And somehow, I startled more than him.

To be fair, he had the advantage of approaching me. But I had to admit, at the time, I thought it was a very brave or very friendly eleven year old that would sneak up to a total stranger at their front door. Unless he mistook me for the postman.

Except the postboxes were in the front yard, and they were in the first floor hallway. Beyond the lobby, even. In the small hallway that led to only one room, so not many misunderstandings possible there.

'I'm sorry,' I stuttered. Was I scared of a kid? Nope, but I was a little worried about where things were going to go. The flowers were obviously poking out behind me. "I'm just - '

He didn't interrupt me. Or ask me anything. I kind of expected a "who are you" somewhere in there, or "what are you doing here" or even the blunt "are you dating my mother"? - though I was hoping to avoid the last one. He didn't seem too concerned either, though he was in the more advantageous position, blocking my escape route. Of course, if I was the villain (not that there is a villain in this tale, mind you), when (or if) his mother opened the door, i could take her hostage.

Except I know him better now and am fairly sure I'd have bruised ribs and a knocked head - or worse - if I looked like I was going to try that. That unthreatening stance is tricky and tends to catch people out. But you just don't expect an eleven year old to be any match at all against a grown man -

But how was I supposed to know that Kimura Tomoko's child - or children, as it was - weren't normal eleven year olds at all?

So, anyway. The boy in the hallway, and there was me trying to stutter through an explanation that didn't say anything at all while he waited patiently. Or not patiently, but he waited anyway. Until he decided it just wasn't worth waiting anymore or he was simply tired of waiting, but the question was: 'Are you here visiting Mum?' Which implied he had a bit of an idea of who I was already.

Except I wasn't visiting. I was trying to leave a bunch of flowers and surely he hadn't missed in front of the door.

'Mum's not home,' he continued.

My face might have fallen. 'Well… can you make sure she gets those?' I gesture to the flowers, then totter a few steps. He doesn't move aside, though he gave a little shrug and nod.

It was awkward. My face was getting redder because here I was, telling the son to give red flowers to his mother from a man that wasn't his father, and he was barely batting an eyelash. Of course, Tomoko had been divorced for a long time so maybe he was used to admirers coming after his mother. Or maybe he did want a step-father. Not really the sort of stuff you talk about on first dates. Then again, i guess previous marriages aren't either, but Tomoko made sure I knew what I was getting into before I took her out. Or, that was the idea anyway.

She didn't mention how awkward it would become with the son around.

'Do you want to come in?'

It took me a moment to realise he was talking to me.

'You shouldn't invite strangers in.' At least I managed not to stutter that.

He shrugged though. 'Didn't you take my mother out on a date yesterday? I don't think that's much of a stranger.'

'Two days ago, actually,' I correct, wondering how he managed to get the date wrong. Unless Tomoko had been on a different date, and that thought shot my confidence down a few more notches. Not that there was anything wrong with a single, uncommitted woman going on separate dates with different people.

'And if you hadn't, you would have agreed with yesterday.' He brushed past me to unlock the door, then invited me in again. He'd carefully sidestepped the roses, so I picked them up and followed him inside, still wondering if that was a good idea even if I seemed to have passed a test i hadn't even know I was undertaking.

Which is another problem, similar to when you date girls or womens with siblings with a sibling complex, but you think you've avoided that when the woman's old enough to have an eleven year old child - except the child can just as easily pick up that role, and you can't even dodge them like the sibling because the kid will be living with the pair of you if you ever get married and, unlike a sibling, the mother can't just ignore the child's opinion on the matter, and neither can you if you want to marry the woman.

Though this was after the first date and really too early to be thinking about that stuff because all i'd been trying to do was getting a second date.


	2. Chapter 2

**For a Romeo and Juliet Moment  
** _Chapter 2_

You probably think I'm hopeless being scared of an eleven year old. You haven't met the Minamoto/Kimura twins then. Or just one of them. Though, to be fair, he wasn't trying to be scary right then. Or I don't think he was. Maybe he was just curious and could only ask his mother so many questions before things got too awkward to pursue further.

Of course, the other guy bears the brunt of those consequences, having to answer (or avoid) the rest of the questions. Which with some people could lead to having questions coming in at a mile a minute or something similar. With other people, it meant being too wound up to enjoy a cup of steaming tea because no-one had asked the questions.

And then it comes, after Kouichi (that's the twin who lives with Tomoko, by the way, and the one I see more of) had blown on his tea a little and it was still too hot to drink. And the question caught me off guard again, because it had absolutely nothing to do with my interest in his mother, which really should have been at the forefront of his mind. And maybe he was and he was just dodging it because it was awkward for him as it was for me. But still, of all the questions to ask, it's my favourite colour?

'We're playing twenty questions?' I wondered, aloud by accident.

He shrugged. It's a little jerky. Definitely awkward. Which made two of us, and that made me wonder all the more why he'd taken the initiative to invite me in.

I shrugged too and answered the question. What else was there to do? We finished the tea and a couple of biscuits. He emptied out his school back too (and library books that looked more recreational than a class requirement), and then his mother came home with groceries and we both shot up to help.

It was rather amusing that Tomoko didn't do a double take until they were all put away. Housewife's instinct, I guess. Though she's not really a housewife - or she is but doubles as a working woman, or the other way around. Labels are a little silly like that, and I'd known it would endear the twins to me faster, I might have used it. Granted though, what endears me to them, according to Kouji's (the other one, who lives with his father) is that I'm honest.

I get more information from Kouji on this one. According to him, Kouichi can't like to save his life, but is actually very good at hiding things and that's not what he's talking about when it comes to honesty. Rather, he means if I feel something, it'll show: in my body language, in my words. Straightforwardness maybe? Or sincerity? Anyway, I already told you labels are very silly things because they never quite manage to box a person in. Not properly anyway. There'll be some bit sticking out that winds up being chopped off if other people are particularly insistent. In any case, they know I'm not a person who can sing praises if I don't mean them and that suits the just fine because then they can trust that when I say I'm heads over heels for their mother, they can believe me. But people are good actors so I'd wondered why they were so sure.

'If we told you we fought angels, would you believe us?' Kouichi had asked, sounding amused.

By then, I'd heard about how the twins met and such, which included a fall and a traumatic haemorrhage which had been cleared up with no long-lasting complications. So because it was Kouichi who said it and not his brother who hadn't, I should have been less inclined to but I'd heard enough for his mother to know that when he lied (because it wasn't that he never lied), it was usually very easy to see through.

Granted, such lies were typically the "I'm fine" even when he's not variety, but when you're a parent, that's not a lie you want to be encouraging.

But all of that happened later down the track, And, after that, I imagined those two with swords or guns or something and beating an angel that was half black and half white because that sort of broke the fourth wall in that its wings weren't all white.

And then they told me one of those angels was a giant black and purple rabbit, and I gave up on the visualising. But I got the message. Though, funnily enough, I wasn't too far off with the half black winged, half white winged angel but I didn't get the whole story until I was married and had meet the rest of the twins' gang as well. And...yeah, crazy story.

So if you marry a woman with eleven year old children, (or nine actually because Himi Tomoki was the youngest and nine) or older (and not just because Shibayama Junpei was twelve), make sure to check if they've saved the world at any time in their tenure as well. Just in case. Because these kids are sharp. Snuck up on me when I was hyper-alert (and a nervous wreck, I guess). Would have frightened me off the branch if I'd tried to climb a tree and knock on her window and whisk her away on a late night date like I've done before in senior high. Granted, never tried it when they had siblings because that was a recipe for disaster. In this case, I had to clear it with them before I snuck out with the engagement ring.

And of course, they decided to climb up a little higher and watch with a bird's eye view. Dunno if the siblings would do something like that but I guess I can't blame them for being curious, or worried, or making sure I don't chicken out which I might've done a few times before I got to a successful attempt, but then again I'd done one hard thing and told the kids I wanted to marry their mother. And that is pretty tough. Sort of up there with telling other branches of the family.

Of course, I'm running ahead again. After the first date. Me and Kouichi alone and getting through awkward "get to know you" conversation and then Tomoko came home.

And, of course, she saw the flowers on my lap as well so I had to shove them at her and mumble my request for a second date and bite my tongue (physically) in the process. And Kouichi suddenly looks like a deer caught in the headlights because that might've been a tad spontaneous from his view, and Tomoko looks like a deer caught in the headlights and was it because she was falling in love somewhere else, or not falling in love at all? - but then she said yes and all was right in the world.

But do try and avoid asking for that second date in front of the kid. Not that anything happened, but it's pretty awkward from both directions.

The advantage of all that though is that I got to meet her son - or one of them - and that made the family topic a little more relaxed. One of those spokes that come up when one of the people on the date was married previously (and has a kid, which sometimes seems like a separate spoke because not everyone wants to deal with kids from a previous marriage, however bad that sounds), but now I'd had the exposure and because I wore my heart painted on my face, Tomoko could be happy with the knowledge that I didn't have a problem with her son.

Though she doesn't have the reason the twins do, so maybe that's mother's intuition? Because she's seen her share of hopeless dates and it's not that she'll believe everything she sees because she won't.


	3. Chapter 3

**For a Romeo and Juliet Moment  
** _Chapter 3_

So...yeah. At some point, you're going to need to know the kids and they're going to need to know you, and they're also going to need to know where and how you stand when (or if) you join the family. And that's the tricky thing, as far as social media and all that stuff goes. The big bad wolf vs. the fairy-tale godmother and sometimes there's an automatic expectation towards the big bad wolf part.

Funnily enough, I got lucky there. Very lucky. Because Tomoko's ex-husband had remarried three years ago so Kouji, at least, was used to having a step-parent. And she was nice. She hadn't ruined my chances too (and she's nice outside of that, but when you don't meet the woman until your marriage day, you're not too concerned about what sort of personality she has beyond what that means for you and in this case, I wanted to marriage her husband's ex-wife - and yes, we've jumped ahead in time to that point). So yeah. Kouji knew how it was to have a step-parent and he was reasonably okay with it. Better now that he'd met his real mother and the shaky past in there had been straightened out (and it wasn't really my business to know what had gone on between the old couple there, again beyond what didn't affect me directly and in this case it was the fact that though Kouji had had a step-mother for three years, the reception of her hadn't changed until very recently).

But at least I didn't have to look forward to being ignored at every turn of kindness, looking for acceptance from a child I really wanted to accept me so we could be a happy family like happy families ought to be. On that side of things at least. And i didn't have to worry about the skeleton in the family closet falling on top of me. Satomi did get the brunt of that, and the twins as well. But that would be the main skeleton in a divorced family, I imagine. Sure, there'll be other sorts of skeleton: miscarriages or affairs or some familial disease and I can't rule any of those out, but most of them are potentials at some point or other life and not necessarily specific to dating a woman with kids from her previous marriage...except family illnesses from the other parent's side.

But...yeah. I'm digressing. I was just saying how lucky I was to be the second step-parent instead of the first, and also that neither twin harboured the fantasy that their parents would get married again because that's another issue that can crop up when your future husband or future wife has kids. Granted, in this particular case, it was because one twin thought his mother was dead and the other thought it was his father's fault his mother had to work so hard (which it wasn't; just a court agreement that Tomoko had to be able to support Kouichi on her own to be able to keep him which was ridiculous because anyone could be suddenly forced out of work for a bit - sickness or retrenchment or something or other. You get the point, right?) In any case, even when all that was sorted out, neither harboured the possibility of them becoming one big happy family again and it makes it a hell of a lot easier to get married to one arm of that.

The difficulty with me, and Kouichi as well, was working out how we were supposed to treat each other because Kouichi had grown up with his mother and grandmother - no male influences - and I'd never been married before. Or had a son. Or even a little brother. And even if I had, I was coming into his life eleven years after and couldn't pretend to take the place of his birth father - that he was just starting to get to know as well. I'd chosen a very complicated time to get involved but love doesn't exactly work conveniently.

Granted, if I'd met Tomoko back in high school, we wouldn't have any kids so there's something. Less of an issue when you have step-kids and, you know, I kind of wanted kids and I liked these two, scary as they were initially.

Also scary because I jumped straight into the pre-teen moments, but it hasn't been too bad yet. But...yeah. Trying to work out how to treat each other because you can't be too easy on them because that's bad parenting and you can't be too hard because that's bad parenting too but here's where honestly and inabilities to lie and deceive and all that come in, because Tomoko knows that if I feel like I've overstepped the line, it'll show all over me (and Kouichi knows that too, but that's only a failsafe for him in this case, I guess) and if Kouichi thinks I'm overstepping a line, it won't show all over him but it'll be plain that something's bothering him and it's only the task of teasing out what that thing is (and sometimes it's obvious, sometimes it's not, sometimes it's misleading - see why his brother doesn't call it honesty?). But there's all that, and so there's a bit of room to move around and work things out. Trial and error and things. Awkwardness. Amusing moments. The time where they watched me climb up to Tomoko's window and propose to her through the glass until she got over the happy shock and opened it up for me...or us.

So we make mistakes. Like when I try to help with homework and Kouichi would much rather learn from the books unless he's stuck on something, but it's not that huge a deal that he'll comment on it unless you really press. Or like Kouji who'll point out straight away if something is bothering him, but you also can't try and do nothing because things just won't change that way. Same as everyday stuff, I guess, just a little more nerve-racking because this isn't social or at work, but at home and home is supposed to be the place you can relax. But all families have this at some point or other, where there's a discord in understanding somewhere or other. Like when kids are growing up and the parents are mind-boggled. Like when mothers seem to lose the ability to read their children's mind anymore because their children are growing up more. And first time parents, where's their experience? You get the message. Inexperience is everywhere and we try and work out what the best way to do things are and get a few failed or not so great in afterthought attempts along the way. But there are guidelines. There are always guidelines and I guess these are a few pearls of wisdom I picked up along the way.

Oh, and this one. If the said kids have saved the world, they probably already know how to fight and a lot better than the few martial arts you've done in your youth. So I wouldn't recommend sparring with them, thinking you need to teach them this stuff because you'll wind up pretty embarrassed and very sore. Which is actually the first time I heard about the digital world, so it wasn't too bad in afterthought, but not so hot at the time since I was supposed to be the new daddy and proved myself woefully incompetent when it came to keeping up with them. Not that they - or Kouichi anyway, Kouji does do martial arts still - make it a habit of sparring. They do it every now and then though, just to keep the skills they attained back them. Offered to teach me too but I might be getting too old for things like that. I'll try to teach Kouji how to cook instead. Which is apparently a hopeless task, though Satomi claims to have made some leeway on that. At least he knows not to put salt in the tea. I thought it was not so subtle discouragement at first.


End file.
